Accidents Durring Training
by SighingWinter
Summary: Yoshimizu Kanna just knew someday was going to happen after what she'd seen this morning, but she certainly hadn't expected it to this degree! Warning: Character injury, nothing too serious
1. Chapter 1

There was always something she had found amusing about being around the Hyotei Regulars, but until this moment hadn't quite pinned it down. Now, as Kanna Yoshimizu watched the Regulars fight over some obscure food source, during one of their early training camps. Surrounded by other teams as she was, the golden eyed girl watched with unveiled amusement as more and more of the various Regulars got involved.

The original fight between Kikumaru of Seigaku and Gakuto of Hyotei, now encompassed most members of Seigaku, Rikkaidai, and Hyotei; the exceptions being the Captains, a few others and herself. The former two either watched the argument with boredom or completely ignored it in favor of doing something else- something that was more worthwhile and productive. Kanna was one who had chosen to watch, trying to fight down the fond smile that was aching to stretch across her face.

It was strange how things had changed between the two years that had passed since their middle school years. It had started out as a bet, which had developed into multiple friendships, which in turn, had made her the permanent manager for the Hyotei Regulars. As she reflected on the path that had brought her to this exact moment Kanna had to admit, she was glad she'd taken that bet no matter how stupid it had been at the time. In the back of her mind, the dark haired girl had to admit how much she relied upon these boys.

Jiro; nearly grown-up yet still took consistent naps and deeply admired Marui. Shishido, with his blue cap, and the tough guy attitude he tried to hide behind. Gakuto, and that endless need for sweets and bright outlook on life. Oshitari, a recent connoisseur of wines, had a distinct enjoyment, yet creepy, admiration of legs, and his love for sweet quotes from romance novels. Chotaro; a kind and reliable classmate who would stand up for those he held close. Hiyoshi; who's determination and desire to beat his senpai was both provocative and endearing. Kabaji, the tall, strong, and silent young man who went wherever his dearest friend was. Even Atobe, with his imperious ways and flamboyant expressions had taken up a place in her heart.

In a way, her dependence on these boys was frightening in part because she knew that they would always be there for her if she needed them. Kanna grimaced, not realizing that her far off gaze and varying facial expressions were catching the curious gazes of several of those that weren't involved in the developing argument that grew louder on one side of the common area.

"Yoshimizu-chan, are you alright?" Yukimura-buchou's feminine voice broke through Kanna's thoughts and golden eyes focused on the blue haired captain of the Rikkaidai High School tennis club, and for a moment the young man stopped his thought process trying to place where it was that he'd seen her eyes before. Their shape and color was so familiar- but from where?

"What?" Her voice sounded far off and Yukimura dropped the stray thought as concern for the first year overwhelmed everything else.

"He asked if you were alright ~arn." Atobe said arching a single, perfect brow as his dark eyes flicked briefly over to glance at his team manager, before going back to a bored examination of something on his phone that corresponded to something in the magazine that he had.

"Oh!" Kanna exclaimed, flushing slightly in embarrassment, "Yes, I'm fine Yukimura-san. I was just thinking."

"Sa, Ka-chan, you should stop doing that or you'll get wrinkles." The unexpected voice was followed by a hard poke to the girl's forehead, making her squeak in surprise.

"Fuji-san!" Hands clapped over the poked spot, she leaned back against the side of Atobe's chair, protesting the tensai's action. The Seigaku tensai merely smiled down at the girl before plopping down on the unoccupied space on the couch, coming to rest between a reading Tezuka and a sleeping Jirou.

"Neh, Fuji-kin" Yukimura called for the burnet's attention and half lidded cerulean eyes looked over towards the young man who sat on the other couch, squished between his data master and his vice-captain, "What happened to mediating?" All eyes snapped back towards the near brawl that was playing out amongst the other tennis players.

"YEAH BABY! BURNING!"

Suddenly Kawamura knocked most of his opponents to the floor and grabbed the single plate of food. "NO!" Jackel, Marui, Momoshiro, and Kaidoh cried out, grabbing the tennis racket wielding boy by the ankles in an attempt to stop him from escaping with the plate. At the same time Kirihara, Shishido, Gakuto, and Eiji jumped him from behind. Almost in slow motion the observers saw Kawamura falls backwards, the plate of food flying out of his weakened grasp and into the roaring flames of the crackling fire. An astonished silence mixed with horror filled the air, reined for several long moments before the brawlers all released screams of dismay.

Kanna instinctively curled up tightly; pressing her back against the side of the chair she leaned against, as she covered her ears with her hands and squeezed her eyes shut in a vain attempt to block out the multitude of voices. How she hated loud noises! Warm hands wrapped around her own, further blocking the piercing sounds. Uncaring for who it was Kanna moved back against the person who took her into his arms, pressing her head against a muscled chest, cradling her like a child.

Tezuka simply continued reading, flipping a page as he studiously ignored the overreactions of both his teammates and the others. Seemingly unbothered by the loud noise, Fuji leaned against his friend, smiling, peering over his year-mate's shoulder to get a closer look at the words that twisted around the slightly yellowed pages.

Yukimura and Yanagi were looking at the data master's journal, pointing to something that had been scrawled onto the page. Neither boys paid much attention to the cries of their friends and rivals/occasional allies- save to cast glances filled with irritation towards the large group. Meanwhile Jirou continued to sleep, not disturbed in the least by the loud noise, as his buchou pressed calloused fingers to his temple and focused his dark gaze that flashed with deadly intent, upon the large group of young men who were still crying out in an inelegant fashion.

"Urusai! Tandarou!" Sanada's commanding voice cut through the screams like one of his swords cutting through a straw dummy. Silence fell once more as eight pairs of eyes widened in fear, latched onto the strict fuku-buchou of Rikkaidai.

"50 laps!" He roared. Those that gazed at him and didn't move were still shocked as his powerful voice; the rest hurriedly jerked themselves from the pile to follow their vice-captain's orders as they had been trained to do.

"100! NOW!" Grabbing his wooden practice sword, Sanada Genichirou followed the rush of boys who scrambled over one another to get outside and start running before the fearsome young man closed in on them.

Kanna slowly opened one eye then the other, not having heard the brief and sharp orders of one of the three demons of Rikkaidai. The large warm hand that had covered hers, removed themselves from their position to rest at her waist as the girl sat up fully.

"Fear not, lovely Kanna-chan, you're safe from harm." A low voice murmured. Hot breath ghosted over her ear and neck, causing the girl to shiver.

"That's not funny, Oshitari-senpai." She said "Though I appreciate the help."

"Any time little flower."

Scooting way from the bespectacled boy, Kanna quickly stood and moved towards the large fireplace. Several pairs of eyes watched the girl's graceful trek, tracking her as she passed the fireplace and strode to the selves that teemed with books. Most of the eyes returned to their previous occupation as they realized what she was doing, however two pairs of eyes watched her closely as she scanned the selves, running a graceful finger along the worn bindings.

Atobe Keigo was the owner of one of the pair. He had leaned against the arm of his chair, easing some of the pressure off his slightly stiff back muscles and had only meant to momentarily allow his gaze to look over the room, but when they came to a rest on the familiar figure of Yoshimizu Kanna they couldn't quite look away. He'd been watching her for two years- almost three now, and yet there was still something about her that caught his attention. Perhaps it was her lithe figure and quiet demeanor. Or was it because she treated him like a normal person? The heir the Atobe group didn't know, only that she had managed to hold onto his attention for far longer than any woman before her.

It was the simplest things too- take now for instance- all she was doing was scanning the rare English collector novels lightly feeling aged bindings as her eyes wandered over the titles stamped onto them. It was such a simple action, but the way she stood, relaxed but graceful, and the way she treated those old tomes, made that simple action become something akin to a dance. _A dance meant to capture the eye and entrance the beholder_, the thought rose to his mind but almost at once he balked away from it. Blinking rapidly Atobe averted his gaze attempting to gather himself once more; he was no lovesick middle school child! He was a man, a powerful, rich, and handsome man- who didn't have the option of-. Cutting off his own thoughts Atobe returned to his magazine, flipping through the pages. All the while, even as his gaze returned to the written word, he was aware of Kanna's familiar and comforting presence.

Fuji Shusuke had never more wished for a camera in his life, than right at this moment. The room was perfect, an appealing combination of an old European styled comfort mixed with little pieces of the modern world. The lighting cast by both flame and electricity was great, the later barely noticeable as the grand fireplace offered the largest amount of light and heat. To bring the whole urge together was the girl standing in front of the book cases, gazing at the titles with half lidded eyes. As the fire cracked, its flickering light made the shadows dance across her slender body. Her shoulder blade length hair, normally an eye catching black-green changed with the tumbling shadows, flashing complete darkness before briefly changing to emerald. Fuji's hands twitched, curling around an invisible camera. The urge itself was purely artistic and was a few changes he could even capture some of the other in a photo as well…

Ah, she'd found a book. He watched as Kanna stood in front of the shelves for a moment longer scanning the pages revealed to her, before quietly closing the book and walking over to her usual late evening place in front of the fire. Not too close but not too far, she sat and opened the book at its start. Her amber eyes scanned the text, and for a moment Fuji paused, catching a glimpse of the familiar alphabet. He smiled, she was reading in English, adding the diversity that surrounded the players in the room. Glancing about Fuji found Atobe reading some sort of business magazine that seemed to be in Greek, Tezuka was reading a German history on tennis, Yanagi and Yukimura were looking over calculations, and Oshitari was occupying himself with a violin concerto.

Fuji smiled to himself, gazing around at his close friend and his companions. Who would have thought two years ago that the three top teams in the Japan would be able to sit with one another and share laughs, stories, and train- without killing one another? He certainly hadn't, but found as he looked around at the familiar faces in the room, that he wouldn't trade this sense of belonging and companionship for anything- well maybe for two or three National titles, but nothing less. Tezuka shifted and Fuji moved with him, letting his buchou and lover find comfort before he returned to leaning against him. Closing his eyes, Fuji nodded to himself- yes, this, this felt like home.

None of those in the common room heard the return of their teammates from their forced fifty laps around the winter training compound. Only Sanada's return to the common area marked their finish, while the rest scrambled into bed, too tired and sore to do anything more than sleep and pray that tomorrow's WINTER HELL TRAINING would be merciful.

The following morning was quiet that is until a loud whistle broke through the peaceful early morning. "Boys! It's time to wake up!" a loud voice yelled, breaking through various dreams and sending a few of the house's sleeping occupants tumbling out of bed and onto the floor. Gradually joining the single, loud voice were the varying sounds of distress at being woken up in the morning. Kanna giggled to herself and turned towards the group of the third-year middle schoolers.

"We'd better have breakfast on the table before they come downstairs."

"Hai!" Horio, Kachiro, and Mizuno chorused, grabbing some of the heavier plates and carrying them out of the kitchen and towards the dining hall. Sakuno and Tomoka hurriedly began to chop the remains of the fruit. Seeing their sudden rush, Kanna smiled and walked over gently touching their shoulders.

"Calm down. I don't want to have any emergencies." She said, laughing lightly. The other two girls laughed a bit, and slowed, having realized that they'd like to keep all of their fingers. Spotting a few empty plates the boys had left on the counter; Kanna picked them up and exited the kitchen. No sooner than the moment she stepped into the dining room a voice cried out.

"WATCH OUT!"

Kanna caught sight of the flying plate of food and dropped the paper plates in her grasp and jumped up deftly catching the plate and the food that had miraculously stayed put. Hitting the ground, Kana looked over the state of the dining room; Horio was on the floor, and Kachiro and Mizuno were standing nearby slightly pale, though seemingly fine. She sighed and walked over to the table, placing the food on the table before turning back and picking up the paper plates that she'd dropped. Once she'd placed those in a neat stack near the center of the table, Kanna turned around and faced the group of senior middle school students, who were gaping at her.

"Horio, stand up- Unless you want to be walked over. Kachiro-kun, Mizuno-kun please stop staring and get the other things from the kitchen. We don't have time to stand around. The others will be down her in a few minutes and you really don't want to hear Atobe complain about eating without silverware."

"Hai!" The three said faint laughter in their voices as they stood straight and uptight, as if she was a Captain. Kanna hid her amused smiled behind a hand as she watched the boys hurriedly turn and head back towards the kitchen.

"Oh!" She added, "And no rushing around! I don't want any accidents." A trio of voices answered with "Hai" before the doors closed. Sighing to herself, Kanna turned back towards the table and straightened some things out. Soon, all the food was on the table ready to be eaten.

"Go get ready for the day, minna." She dismissed the five middle schoolers, who promptly rushed out of the room to get on alternate uniforms and get the tennis courts ready for the day's training. Kanna sighed once more, marveling at how eager they were. It was almost as though they were anticipating something, aside from their entrance into Seigaku high school in the spring.

Shaking her thoughts away Kanna went back into the kitchen and began cleaning up, something the third years had conveniently forgotten. Honestly, she thought, they were like children. Chuckling lowly, she easily finished the cleaning and began taking out some things that needed to thaw, and then checked what was available. Once that was done, Yoshimizu slipped out one of the two side doors and headed to her room to shower and change. No doubts were in her mind about what the day was going to bring. Surely all the near accidents, pending or otherwise, were enough warning.

Today was definitely going to be interesting.


	2. Chapter 2

It was both a relief and with slight aggravation that Kanna realized that she had been right in her assumption of the day's chaos. First Gakuto and Eiji over a girls pop band and had somehow managed to knock their glasses onto their doubles partners, soaking their clothes. The shock of Oishi and Shishido had been surprised enough that the glasses then tumbled to the floor and shattered which had resulted in Horio stepping on a piece of glass and forcing the only adult coach to drive to the hospital.

"Hah… and it's only 10 in the morning." Kana sighed laying her head on the table, already exhausted from having to deal with so much activity in the span of an hour and a half.

"Cheer up Yoshimizu-san. Surely the day will get better" Sakuno said gently with a reassuring smile.

"I sure hope you're right."

"Of course she is! Now let's make lunch and decide what we're going to do this afternoon!" Tomoka said happily, skipping into the kitchen.

Several hours later lunch passed with only one flying fork and no injuries and- "At last! Now it's time for some real fun!" Tomoka beamed dressed in full winter gear like Sakuno who followed after her happily. Even the oldest duo of the group, Yoshimizu and Kirihara, beamed as they stepped out into the crisp air bags slung over shoulders. Everyone carried something, Yoshimizu and Kirihara had ice-skates, Sakuno carried a bag of snack with insulated hot drinks, and Tomoka was the proud bearer of the broom. The boys carried blankets, more snacks and drinks.

"Now this is great!" Kirihara beamed, having received permission from Yukimura to take the afternoon off.

"So says the guy who will lose in the upcoming Snow War." Horio grumbled under his breath, having lost the vote on the afternoon's activities.

Together the girls chatted excitedly and the boys, with one exception, followed sullenly as they made their way carefully down to the frozen lake where they would be ice-skating until the early evening, if everything seemed to be alright. Sure enough the lake, once they reached it, had been declared thick enough to skate on.

"Here, let me double check while I sweep aside the snow that's on top of the ice. I'd hate for any of you to get hurt." Yoshimizu said as she quickly tugged on her skates.

"Be careful ok?" Kachiro-kun said seriously as Tomoka handed the older girl the broom.

"Hai buchou!" Kanna said before winking and carefully skating onto the lake, leaving the younger girls to giggle in her wake as they pulled on their own skates. The lake was more of a large, yet deep, pond thus sweeping and double checking the ice's thickness was a careful yet fairly quick process.

"It's all clear!" Yoshimizu said when she skated over to place the white coated broom with the rest of their stuff.

Eagerly Tomoka and Sakuno headed onto the ice followed swiftly by Kirihara, Kachiro-kun, Horio-kun, and Mizuno-kun, and for the first hour the seven fought over who was the best skater as they fell skidded, slipped, and slid all over the icy surface. There was only an hour or so of sun left when rather suddenly, an ominous sound rumbled lowly beneath their bladed feet. At first they shrugged it off but when Kanna looked down ten minutes later her eyes widened. Cracks surrounded her, looking like a deathly pale spider web underneath her feet.

"Minna wait!" She yelled, fighting back panic.

The six some, who had been full of life and laughter barely second ago stopped their on ice snow ball fight to look at the older cohort in confusion. Not wanting to frighten them all unnecessarily Yoshimizu tried the first excuse that came to her mind, "I- I think we need to head back. The teams will be back at the cabin in a few hours and we should probably get started on dinner."

"Aww. Common Yoshimzu-san" Tomoka said being her usual head strong self, "A few minutes more won't hurt. I bet you I can hit Unibrow over there with this snowball using my ultimate Super Speed Tomoka Throw!"

"Let's do this!" Kirihara cheered grathering up snow as well.

Before Kanna could protest the two people lined their bodes up and threw the balls with strong over hands, however both seemed to have forgotten that keeping your body still while a part of it was moving was rather difficult on ice and skidded for a moment, sliding into one another and Sakuno before managing to stop with matching grins of triumph. Horio squawked in protest as he dodged away from the flying snow, but then froze when the odd rumbling sound from earlier grew louder.

"Ah…Yoshimizu-san." Tomoka looked down at her feet and what little could be seen of her face lost all its color. Her eyes looked up frightened.

"It's alright. Just take a deep breath and slowly come towards me." Kanna said reassuringly, holding her arms out like her parents did when she had first learned how to skate.

"I-I I can't… I'll fall in." Sakuno chattered, shaking visibly. Tomoka simply refused to budge. As a result the only one not showing fear could move either, stuck as he was between the pair. Concern washed over the figure skater, but she had a responsibility to others outside of the trio that stood in front of her.

"Tomoka-chan, Sakuno-chan I want you to look at my eyes alright? Don't look down just look at my eyes." She said before calling over to Horio and co. who were off to one side. "Get solid ground and pull on your shoes. Run to the cabin and get the longest and sturdiest rope you can find."

"Hai!" The stressed and worried trio cried. Yoshimizu relaxed marginally when the slow and stumbling hiss of the boys' skates on the ice stopped and soon the sound of snow being crunched underfoot filled the air before that too faded.

"K-K-Kanna?" Tomoka chattered, eyes growing yet wider as the ice groaned beneath them.

"Tomoka keep looking at me alright?" Kanna replied calmly as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her red cell phone. "I'm going to call Atobe ok?"

"Wha-what f-for?"

Kanna smiled a bit at that; if she could distract the girls enough to keep them focused on a conversation then perhaps they could make it to solid ground without trouble. "Did you know that Atobe used to figure skate with me? We learned together actually, though as a secret between you and me- he feel down three times as much as I did."

Kirihara's laugh was strong and seemed to reassure the girls who also laughed a bit though theirs was shaky. "I'm going to dial now ok?"

The two girls' nods were synchronized and the fear easing slightly as Kanna remained calm and pressed 1 on speed dial. It rang.

And rang.

And rang.

And rang.

And with each ringing tone Kanna could feel a part of her mind get heavier. When no one picked up after the sixth ring she silently ended the call.

"Alright girls I need you to listen to me very carefully alright? You too Kirihara"

"Ok" "H-hai." The make simply nodded, telling her silently that he would do whatever he could to help her.

"Good job. Now tell me, what's your favorite hot food?"

"Huh?"

"What's your favorite hot food? Tell me so I know what to make when we get back to the cabin."

"Hot pot." Tomoka answered right away

"But I thought we were going to have-" Sakuno murmured worriedly.

"Never mind what we said we'd make earlier. Just for being as brave as you're being right now you deserve a reward. But there's a catch, I need to you listen to every word I say until we're safely back inside the house."

Tomoka and Sakuno nodded a faint yet determined looks crossing their faces.

"Good. Now I want you to carefully copy what I'm about to do. Now brace yourself because it's going to get a bit chilly."

At the same time Horio rushed into the house, little more than a panicked blur as he grabbed a phone and dialed the first number he could remember.

"Moshi moshi." Oishi-senpai's familiar voice answered.

"Senpai! There's trouble!" Horio gasped as he searched wildly around for rope.

"Over here!" Kachiro-kun called, his voice muted from being outside.

"What's wrong Horio-kun?" Oishi asked his voice rising in concern. The background noise of tennis suddenly went silent.

"Yoshimizu-senpai and Sakuno and Tomoka and Seaweed head!"

"Seaweed head?" Oishi repeated uncertainly.

"Yea! They…They're stuck on the lake and- and the ice is cracking!" He said panic filling his voice as Kachiro grabbed the longest rope he could find in the outside tool shed and hurried off.

"Don't panic Horio-kun! We're on our way, tell them to stay calm!"

"H-hai. Just… just HURRY!" Horio shot of through the snow, ignoring the burning in his legs as he mentally urged his friends to hang on.

By the time the Regulars reached the lake Kanna had just finished getting the lot to slowly take of their jackets and slid them over to her, and she in turn had tossed them over to Mizuno-kun who had been smart enough to remain on the lake edge.

"KANA!" "AKAYA!" "SAKUNO!" The Regulars cried seeing their trouble.

"Don't!" There was a distinct layer of panic under Kanna's voice, one that forced the young men to halt before they stepped onto the cracking surface. "That ice won't be able to hold another person's weight!"

"We can't just sit here!" Momoshiro yelled angry at being able to do nothing.

"Horio should be coming with rope. When he does I need you to keep one end and toss the other to me!" Kanna shouted back before returning her full attention to her charges, though she hadn't looked away from them for one moment.

"Now this is going to be the hardest part alright. We're going to need to slowly lay down on the ice."

"But-!" Sakuno quailed, shivering in both cold and fear.

In the background she vaguely heard Oishi tell someone to ensure the cabin was warm and that the fire was blazing. _Good one Doctor,_ Yoshimizu thought, glad that the student studying medicine had stuck around Seigaku.

"Sakuno-chan you need to listen to Kanna-san alright? We're ok so far so just trust her a little more alright." Kirihara said voice full of bravado.

"Tomoka." Bright blue eyes focused on the other girl in the trio, letting Kirihara take care of Sakuno. "I want you to pay attention to me and listen to every word I say alright?"

The pale faced young woman was resolutely determined- it seemed- to be the example that Sakuno could follow.

"What we're about to do will spread out our weight on the ice so the ice won't be as likely to break, alright? So slowly, crouch down and get your skates off."

Kirihara, pulling from his experience last year as a Captain of a formidable tennis club gently guided Sakuno to do the same thing as her friend, and soon one pair of skates joined the clothes then the other three.

"See we're alright." Kanna said looking at Sakuno, "Now I want you to lie down and spread out you weight ok?"

"L-l-like th-this?" Tomoka chattered, the cold beginning to get to her despite the adrenaline that was storming through their veins.

"Yes. Exactly like that Osakada-san." Kanna said, making her voice sound warm and proud knowing that people generally responded better if your voice was more positive.

"Yoshimizu!" Sanada called in warning as the end of a long but not particularly thick rope tied around a rock, clunked against the ice and skidded into her reach.

"Kirihara. Tie this around Osakada-san's waist. Tomoka I'm going to tell our friends to pull you to safety, and what I need you to do is keep very still and hold onto the rope. Can you do that for me?"

"S-sure. But you o-owe m-m-me hot pot."

Kanna grinned and then looked over her shoulder and nodded to Kabaji and Kawamura, who began to pull the girl across the ice. At the loss of Tomoka Sakuno shook more visibly and Kirihara flashed his year-mate a concerned look. Both of them knew it would be a fight to get the girl to calm down. Keeping her voice calm Yoshimizu praised the girl with the twin braids as Kirihara murmured words of encouragement.

Again Sanada called out a warning before the rope hit the ice, but the rock it was tied to hit the frozen surface at an odd angle and skidding over to Tomoka's former place. Taking a steading breath Kanna made her body move against the freezing surface eventually grabbed the rope and moved into a sitting position to tie it around Kirihara's waist.

"Sakuno I need you to focus on me" Kana murmured, "Its Kirihara's turn to go."

Sakuno gulped and reached towards her with shaking hands. No one was quite ready for Kirihara to be suddenly jerked away and in fear Sakuno sat upright and threw herself at Kanna, sending both young women out onto thinner ice that moaned chillingly beneath them.

Sakuno's breaths were coming fast and shallow and at last the truth came into light as she cried into the older girl's shoulder, "Don't let me go. Please don't let me go I can't swim... I don't want to drown."

Kanna could only murmur rapid reassurances as she mentally cursing her stupid self for not having made sure that each of her younger charges would be able to handle themselves for a short period of time if the ice broke. _Summer project, _she briefly thought before pushing the idea back for a later and more appropriate time._ I need to focus on Sakuno_, though her thoughts focused more on the dangerous sounding cracking that the ice was doing underneath them.

"Sakuno I need you to focus for me. We can't stay on the ice like this. You have to get off of me and spread out your weight like we were doing earlier. Sakuno!" She said urgently, hoping that some part of the girl's frightened brain would kick into action at the tone of her voice. But no matter how many times she repeated herself or voiced the words differently, the younger girl was too far gone in fear to do anything.

A solid thunk hit the ice by her hand, cracks spreading from the firm impact of the rope tied rock. Taking deep breaths Kanna slowly moved her hand and grabbed the rock and tried to tie it around her companion's waist. She struggled for a moment, fearing what would happen if she had to move, but there was little choice now. One deep breath followed by a second and then a third before she gathered her strength and pushed the Ryuzaki off her and finished tying off the rope.

"Go!" She shouted crouching back down on the ice yet even as she watched Sakuno sliding away the ice let out a solemn sounding groan. Fear tunneled through her veins like liquid fire as she felt the ice underneath her giving way. Blue eyes connected with grey and she mouthed his name before the ice fell, dragging her along with it.

"Kanna!" Numerous voices cried out watching the girl slide into the frozen waters. Ever the quick thinker, Tezuka grabbed his lover's racket and served the rock tied rope towards the hole. The plop of the stone colliding with the water was far too loud after the breaking of the ice and Atobe dare not to hold himself back any longer.

"Kanna!" He yelled moving forward only for Sanada and Momoshiro to grab him by the arms and haul him away from the lake shore.

"KANNA!"


	3. Chapter 3

"KANNA!" Atobe yelled, fighting against the two players that held him back with everything he had. His grey eyes refused to move from the place he had seen her disappear beneath the icy surface, even as his mind replayed the last moments between them, her wide eyes and his name upon her lips, tinged slightly by the cold. _I will not let her die!_

Suddenly Kabji let out a never before heard roar as he pulled on the taunt rope. And for a few awful seconds nothing happened before a pale hand and coughing body were hauled onto the ice towards the group. Atobe shook off his imprisoners and waded into the water until it was knee height and pulled the soaked girl into his arms. "You're alright Kanna. You're going to be alright." He murmured before turning and hurrying over to Oishi who immediately urged them back inside the house as he wrapped heavy blankets around her soaked body.

"As soon as we get inside Osakada-san I'm going to need you to take off Yoshimizu-chan's clothes and get her into dry ones if you can."

"Hai!"

To Kanna the world had gone from bone chillingly cold and wet to not wet and beyond freezing in moments and her brain, exhausted, could barely keep up except to tell her that Atobe was holding her and taking her somewhere safe. As though to confirm her sluggish thoughts a fierce voice filled her ears ordering her to live.

"Hai…monkey…king…" She tried to say between frozen breaths, before her mind could no longer bear consciousness and everything went black.

She woke first to sounds, familiar one of warmth and comfort, wood snapping from the heats of flames, low voices, soft and reassuring, and the sound of a steady heartbeat underneath a warm chest. Feeling followed, coming back slowly in a painful prickling sensation that made her grimace in discomfort.

"Oishi." The voice underneath her ear low a low commanding rumble, brooking no defiance from it's listeners.

A too cool hand pressed against her forehead and she twitched in an attempt to get away, but the rest of her body refused to move.

"She's coming to. She should be fully awake anywhere from a few minutes to an hour."

"Should?" The voice rumbled dangerously.

"I'm not a doctor Atobe-san! I have read the book and have an observation job that's all!" The owner of the cold hand- Oishi, second year. Seigaku High School. Doubles player- her brain slowly supplied, sounded stressed. She didn't like that. Not at all. _I need to open my eyes…_So focused was she on getting her heavy eyes to open that she didn't hear the gentle chiding of another, softer voice. Slowly, almost painfully so, blue eyes obeyed her mental command to open and with each blink the world around her came into view, though it was blurrier than she recalled it being. Someone had distracted the two people nearest to her and thus no one saw her tired eyes open fully until an unsteadily rasp hissed from her throat.

"…be nice…"

"She's awake!" A voice cheered before being scolded into silence. At the same time a large hand stroked the side of her face, brushing aside knotted hair and tilting her head back slightly. A weak smile made its way onto her face at the familiar and less blurry face that greeted her sight.

"It took you long enough ah~n."

"..was busy…" she whispered though even that too sounded horrible coming from her throat.

"Here, drink this." Oishi's voice drew her attention to him as he placed a cup of lukewarm water on her lips. Dutifully she did as he asked, drinking slowly from the glass, though her brows furrowed slightly in dislike.

"Better?" He asked once the glass was empty.

"Does anyone know how to make Hot Pot?" She rasped, voice sounding much more normal.

Steady yet low laughter filled the room and she thought that heard Yukimura's laugh along with Oshitari's and Shishido's too. Wherever either of those guys went surely that meant their lovers (Gakuto, Chotaro, Kirihara, and Sanada, her brain supplied) were nearby as well. Atobe remained silent though he kept running a hand through her hair slow and steady.

"Don't worry I'm certain that Kawamura-san and Yanagi will be able to supply us." Yukimura's voice was pitched low, just loud enough for her to hear without jarring her head which had just begun to ache slightly. _Maybe I should close my eyes for a moment._

"Kan.…na."

"Hmmm?" She murmured, opening her eyes and idly wondering when she had closed them.

Oishi's face came into focus after she blinked at him a few times. He looked tired yet relieved as she peered at him from her resting place on a warm yet stiff bed. "I know you're a little tired but I want to check a few things ok?"

She simply nodded, not wanting to speak unless necessary.

"Do you know who I am?"

"Oishi, a doubles player in Seigaku High School Tennis Club. Your partner both in tennis and otherwise is Eiji, who's an acrobatic player."

Oishi's face burned as she murmured the reply before she even actually thought about it. "On your team is Kaidoh, Inui, Kawamura, Momoshiro, Fuji, and Tezuka. The first two and last two are officially dating while Momshiro has an ongoing relationship with Tachibana An. All players are hoping for my half-brother Ryoma Echizen to return to Japan so you can win Nationals."

"Nani?! Brother?!" A voice yelled breaking the silence and making the young woman flinch at the suddenly loud noise, though she continued to speak as though there hadn't been an interruption.

"That," she informed Oishi, "was Kirihara Akaya, a singles player on the Rikkaidai Tennis who's in love with Yukimura and Sanada but has yet to say anything about it for two years."

The person under verbal observation spluttered incoherently while a certain buchou and fuku-buchou looked at him with appraising gazes, as he flailed his arms and shook his head in denial.

"Yanagi, Niou, Yagyu, Jackal, and Marui are also part of his team. Both sets of doubles player are seeing each other. Yanagi meets a girl for coffee every Wednesday at 10:30 exactly. National ranked team, the only reason why they lost Nationals this year was because their senpai-tachi refused to let them play. Also in the house is-" a large hand covered her mouth as Oishi looked helplessly at someone sitting near her, face beat red.

"Ore-sama liked you better sleeping." A voice rumbled from behind her, oddly close for someone she assumed was sitting on the couch behind her.

"Perhaps it might be better to ask yes or no questions Oishi-san. It seems that she's not quite aware enough to think her responses through. Though I must admit her knowledge is quite extensive." Yukimura's voice was gentle yet had a joyful lilt to it that indicated he was all too delighted at this sudden openness of the usually non-too talkative girl.

"Don't encourage her Yukimura. Ore-sama will not have his team spoken of while Yoshimizu's mind is unable to work in coherent sentences."

"Yoshimizu-san," Oishi drew her attention away from the back and forth banter between Atobe and Yukimura. "Can you move your body?"

It took a moment to think about it and struggled with moving her arms, but eventually she shook her head frowning underneath the hand.

"Atobe-san, I'm going to need help getting the blankets around her off." Oishi's words were followed by a rush of movement that was too fast for her slow brain to register, only that once it was done she was not as comfortable despite the blazing fire and shivered.

"Don't worry we'll get you back under the blankets in a moment." Oishi murmured reassuringly as gently felt her legs, occasionally he'd ask if she could feel the press of his fingers or if something hurt and in most cases she always replied was a nod and then a shake of the head.

"If she can feel everything why can't she move?" Atobe asked.

"Exhaustion and not moving around immediately after the fall, am I right?" Yukimura asked, looking towards the resident medical student who nodded.

"..too heavy…" Kanna added, yawning a bit "…kinda like after a long run…or sleeping in a cold bed for too long… should I be tired?"

"You will be for at least a day. Both you mind and bod have gone through a lot of shock in the past few hours so it'll take some time before everything get backs to normal." Oishi said briskly as he carefully bent her arms and legs for her, noting every twitch of muscle underneath his fingers and the small knots that had already formed.

"When you wake tomorrow you'll probably be stiff but things seem to be alright otherwise."

"Ok... sleep now…" She wondered when her mind finally slogged through his words and made sense of them. A warm and heavy blanket was pressed around her shoulders and she sighed burrowing into the comfortable bed before shutting down.

Oishi watched the dark haired girl as he checked her temperature and pulse, before firmly tucking the blankets around her and Atobe who had silently stripped as soon as it had been made clear that someone needed to share their body heat with the frozen girl once she was changed.

"Atobe-san, she needs to be woken up every few hours just to make certain that she's responsive. If not then we'll need to get her to the hospital."

"Of course, though is Yoshimizu supposed to be this hot?" He asked looking down at his Club member with concern clearly etched across his face. It was not an expression seen frequently, if at all, for Atobe, Oishi had learned, was a master of keeping his emotions away from the public view.

"Her body is trying to re-establish its normal temperature, but with the sudden changes its' experienced- it's fairly normal for the body to run a little warmer than normal for about a day or so."

The heir to the Atobe group nodded, and looked towards the few that had remained in the common room. "Ore-samam will ensure that everything goes well. Sanada, Yukimura, move your things into the suit at the end of your hall if you're taking the Seaweed kid with you." Ignoring the sputtering protests he looked to his teammates and jerked his head towards the door, "Go and sleep, Ore-sama will be generous and let Rikkai take over your training tomorrow."

At that the Hyotei Regulars grumbled but obediently headed for the door with the smiling Yukimura and his duo. Lastly the grey eyed King looked towards the Seigaku fuku-buchou and with complete seriousness said, "Thank you for your help, I will not forget this. Please make yourself comfortable with your partner I will have you informed if something changes."

Oishi blinked in open mouthed surprise at Atobe's strange words, he hadn't ever heard the older tennis player use the single person pronoun before and so, in a stunned daze he too left the room, leaving its two occupants alone. One slept while the other gazed into the cackling flames, deep in thought.

Logically Atobe had always known that Yoshimizu Kanna had been similar to Echizen, both were small, lithe, quiet and yet exuded a degree of confidence that most people grew at adulthood. To hear the proof of the relationship was another thing altogether, verifying theory and granting a degree of pride at the quick turn of his mind. So similar yet so different…

"Were you ever going to tell me on your own Kanna?"


End file.
